What do you think?
Rate this book
Shark Wars #3
Into the Abyss
Gray, Barkley, and the alliance of Rogue, Coral, and AuzyAuzy Shivers have defeated the maniacal emperor Finnivus and his vicious Indi Shiver armada. But Finnivus is still plotting. This is the ruler who feasts on the heads of every shark he conquers, after all.
When Finnivus's gangs of soldier fish strike, Gray and his friends endure a loss bigger than any before. And this time there's no one left to tell Gray what to do. He's got to lead the rebels into battle for the ultimate fight of good against evil. The fate of the Big Blue rests with Gray!
Shark Wars is Star Wars set underwater, the perfect series for the voracious fans of Warriors, Seekers, and The Guardians of Ga'Hoole!
When Finnivus's gangs of soldier fish strike, Gray and his friends endure a loss bigger than any before. And this time there's no one left to tell Gray what to do. He's got to lead the rebels into battle for the ultimate fight of good against evil. The fate of the Big Blue rests with Gray!
Shark Wars is Star Wars set underwater, the perfect series for the voracious fans of Warriors, Seekers, and The Guardians of Ga'Hoole!
270 pages
First published April 17, 2012
20 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
About the author
E.J. Altbacker
8Ìýbooks51ÌýfollowersEJ Altbacker is an Emmy nominated screenwriter whose credits include such television shows as Spooksville, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Ben 10, Spider-Man, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, Mucha Lucha and others. He holds an MFA in screenwriting from the American Film Institute and an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Handy Andy Saves the World is his first book since the six book Shark Wars series. He is currently working on his next book as well as writing on the Lego Nexo Knights and the upcoming Justice League Action shows (and another couple secret projects he can't talk about yet, which is killing him). EJ lives in Hermosa Beach, California, and enjoys biking and plodding (his word for jogging as he's pretty slow) by the shore.
Handy Andy Saves the World is his first book since the six book Shark Wars series. He is currently working on his next book as well as writing on the Lego Nexo Knights and the upcoming Justice League Action shows (and another couple secret projects he can't talk about yet, which is killing him). EJ lives in Hermosa Beach, California, and enjoys biking and plodding (his word for jogging as he's pretty slow) by the shore.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 1, 2018
I liked this book because I think it was very exciting. It was very exciting because the battles were very cool.
June 1, 2023
The following review was written by my son Tommy, age 8.
I really like this book. It has the same villain as last book. The villain is really evil. He's evil because he is trying to take over all the oceans. I like the new character too. The new character's name is Tik-Tun. This book is awesome. I would recommend this book.
May 15, 2019
This is, in my opinion, the strongest of the Shark Wars books. The stakes are increased even higher than in the last book, and there's a lot of tension and anticipation that's built up really well. The author does an excellent job of establishing just how challenging this battle is going to be, and when Gray's forces finally clash with Finnivus's army, it doesn't disappoint.
Most of the book is dedicated to Gray and his allies preparing for battle with Finnivus, and while these scenes don't actually feature that much action, it never gets boring. That's probably because the characters still have so much personality, and they keep you engaged. This makes it even more heartbreaking when the author starts killing off characters. There are two major characters who die in this book, and both of the deaths are pretty sad, and since both of them occur during the preparation for the battle with Finnivus, they even help establish a sense of hopelessness and despair.
The action is also excellent. Most of the fight scenes are quick and satisfying, and don't drag on long enough to get boring, as action scenes are prone to doing. A lot of them are fairly quick and concise, and therefore very satisfying. And the climax legitimately feels really epic and fun.
The characters are still excellent. Velenka is her usual self: Clever, scheming, and undeniably evil, but so much fun you can't help but root for her. Barkley and Gray go through some really well written character development. And Takiza still kicks ass.
I can't really think of any problems with the book. I'm sure there are some, but off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that stuck out to me as an issue. This is a very solid book and I definitely recommend it to anybody who's already read the first two.
Most of the book is dedicated to Gray and his allies preparing for battle with Finnivus, and while these scenes don't actually feature that much action, it never gets boring. That's probably because the characters still have so much personality, and they keep you engaged. This makes it even more heartbreaking when the author starts killing off characters. There are two major characters who die in this book, and both of the deaths are pretty sad, and since both of them occur during the preparation for the battle with Finnivus, they even help establish a sense of hopelessness and despair.
The action is also excellent. Most of the fight scenes are quick and satisfying, and don't drag on long enough to get boring, as action scenes are prone to doing. A lot of them are fairly quick and concise, and therefore very satisfying. And the climax legitimately feels really epic and fun.
The characters are still excellent. Velenka is her usual self: Clever, scheming, and undeniably evil, but so much fun you can't help but root for her. Barkley and Gray go through some really well written character development. And Takiza still kicks ass.
I can't really think of any problems with the book. I'm sure there are some, but off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that stuck out to me as an issue. This is a very solid book and I definitely recommend it to anybody who's already read the first two.
January 19, 2020
This book (much like the others in the series) is very difficult to follow at times, though I'm not sure why. There are a ton of characters, and there are more characters added in every book, so that might be part of the reason. It also seems to go go back and forth between seemingly pretty appropriate for all ages and way too violent for kids, but my kids don't really seem to notice. They just love the hero characters and like to see them fight the bad guys... so I guess that's good enough for them!
February 9, 2018
very nice like the first one
April 8, 2020
Unexpected ending. Really looking forward to book 4.
August 19, 2020
it was a good book
May 1, 2017
Finally, a book in the series "Shark Wars" that's involves a shark war.
Gray the megalodon, his ragtag band of fellow sharks, and a bunch of refugees from various Shivers are up against Indi Shiver, the tattooed evil shark armada from the second book. And thus, war. Shark war. Where characters you liked in the second book end up meeting some pretty grisly ends. Several of them.
The book is essentially divided up into three types of storytelling throughout the plot; war strategy, shark fighting, and Indi Shiver courtroom intrigue. The heroes spend a good chunk of the book trying to figure out how to beat the overwhelming odds at their doorsteps. Meanwhile, the villains, confident in their success, mainly look for opportunities to backstab and poison each other from the safety of their home, with Velenka (the sneaky Mako shark from the first two books) and Finnivus (the insane emperor of Indi Shiver and the main antagonist) taking center stage.
From time to time, this is broken up by several fight scenes. The fights are silly at times, especially when they name "moves" like they're in a video game, but the writing does manage to make the stakes feel real and I do realize this is writing for a much younger audience.
The biggest praise I can give this book as someone way older than the target audience is that I can see myself really being engrossed in this series had they existed when I was in grade school. The characters that make it through the shark slaughter do get some nice development and some, like Barkley the dogfish, even get some time to shine in the spotlight after being mere window dressing in the previous books. Gray is still a whiny goof that makes mistakes and is a big dope, but they do take time to show that he's improving and he's not the same fish that was in the first book instead of making him an accidental hero that just wins because he knows the right people. They put a lot of pressure on him, but thankfully he neither glides through his adversity effortlessly nor does he screw up constantly and need to have his hand held for the entire book.
One of the strengths I found in this book was the moments of poignancy and the time it would take away from the shark puns. (of which there are a lot - trust me on this) This silly shark book with the glossy holographic cover has, of all things, a limb amputation torture scene that ends up killing the shark involved while he hallucinates seeing the spirit of his long-dead companion. A shark that is a major character in the previous book and is basically a war veteran. And this is after we find out about the special decoy squad of brainwashed child soldiers meant to be on the front lines and weaken the morale of the opposing army with their terrible casualties.
It's moments like these that make me forget that, at one point, they use the words "finja" and "shar'kata". Finja.
That being said, there were a couple problems that made it not as fun to read as the second book. The biggest one I had is, oddly enough, my favorite part in Shark Wars #2: Finnivus. The crazed king of Indi Shiver officially wears out his welcome in this book and goes from delightful in his insanity and depravity to just irritating. By the time he created the word "opud", I just wanted him to shut up. Perhaps this was intentional; Finnivus is disposed of in this book to make way for the next trilogy, which will have a new villain altogether. Either way, by the end of the book, you are begging for Gray to finish him off.
Finnivus isn't without his fun moments in this book, though. Watching him take Velenka down a couple pegs was immensely satisfying in particular and gave him some quiet moments of dignity, moments where it became believable that he was head of a killer armada. This doesn't last too long.
My other main problem with this book is more of a general problem with a particular trope: There is a prophecy and a "chosen one" in this book, complete with rhyming couplets. With the threat in this book being just a magic-less conqueror with a large army and the sharks are mostly mundane creatures, this prophecy seems completely unnecessary. Even with the lead in to the upcoming books. There is magic in these books, but it never feels properly integrated into the shark's universe and always feels out of place. Just have the talking sharks wearing suits of armor and with the urchin tattoos. We don't need the magic fish on top of that.
All in all, fun and cute little read. I wanted a book about talking sharks fighting each other as something cute to read before going to bed at night and got my wish granted. It had some ridiculous moments (I know, that must be incredibly surprising for a book on talking sharks), also had some poignant moments, managed to hold my interest to the end. I looked ridiculous checking this book out and my social coolness probably went in the negatives as I read this book, but the story I got was fun nonetheless and made up for the public embarrassment.
Gray the megalodon, his ragtag band of fellow sharks, and a bunch of refugees from various Shivers are up against Indi Shiver, the tattooed evil shark armada from the second book. And thus, war. Shark war. Where characters you liked in the second book end up meeting some pretty grisly ends. Several of them.
The book is essentially divided up into three types of storytelling throughout the plot; war strategy, shark fighting, and Indi Shiver courtroom intrigue. The heroes spend a good chunk of the book trying to figure out how to beat the overwhelming odds at their doorsteps. Meanwhile, the villains, confident in their success, mainly look for opportunities to backstab and poison each other from the safety of their home, with Velenka (the sneaky Mako shark from the first two books) and Finnivus (the insane emperor of Indi Shiver and the main antagonist) taking center stage.
From time to time, this is broken up by several fight scenes. The fights are silly at times, especially when they name "moves" like they're in a video game, but the writing does manage to make the stakes feel real and I do realize this is writing for a much younger audience.
The biggest praise I can give this book as someone way older than the target audience is that I can see myself really being engrossed in this series had they existed when I was in grade school. The characters that make it through the shark slaughter do get some nice development and some, like Barkley the dogfish, even get some time to shine in the spotlight after being mere window dressing in the previous books. Gray is still a whiny goof that makes mistakes and is a big dope, but they do take time to show that he's improving and he's not the same fish that was in the first book instead of making him an accidental hero that just wins because he knows the right people. They put a lot of pressure on him, but thankfully he neither glides through his adversity effortlessly nor does he screw up constantly and need to have his hand held for the entire book.
One of the strengths I found in this book was the moments of poignancy and the time it would take away from the shark puns. (of which there are a lot - trust me on this) This silly shark book with the glossy holographic cover has, of all things, a limb amputation torture scene that ends up killing the shark involved while he hallucinates seeing the spirit of his long-dead companion. A shark that is a major character in the previous book and is basically a war veteran. And this is after we find out about the special decoy squad of brainwashed child soldiers meant to be on the front lines and weaken the morale of the opposing army with their terrible casualties.
It's moments like these that make me forget that, at one point, they use the words "finja" and "shar'kata". Finja.
That being said, there were a couple problems that made it not as fun to read as the second book. The biggest one I had is, oddly enough, my favorite part in Shark Wars #2: Finnivus. The crazed king of Indi Shiver officially wears out his welcome in this book and goes from delightful in his insanity and depravity to just irritating. By the time he created the word "opud", I just wanted him to shut up. Perhaps this was intentional; Finnivus is disposed of in this book to make way for the next trilogy, which will have a new villain altogether. Either way, by the end of the book, you are begging for Gray to finish him off.
Finnivus isn't without his fun moments in this book, though. Watching him take Velenka down a couple pegs was immensely satisfying in particular and gave him some quiet moments of dignity, moments where it became believable that he was head of a killer armada. This doesn't last too long.
My other main problem with this book is more of a general problem with a particular trope: There is a prophecy and a "chosen one" in this book, complete with rhyming couplets. With the threat in this book being just a magic-less conqueror with a large army and the sharks are mostly mundane creatures, this prophecy seems completely unnecessary. Even with the lead in to the upcoming books. There is magic in these books, but it never feels properly integrated into the shark's universe and always feels out of place. Just have the talking sharks wearing suits of armor and with the urchin tattoos. We don't need the magic fish on top of that.
All in all, fun and cute little read. I wanted a book about talking sharks fighting each other as something cute to read before going to bed at night and got my wish granted. It had some ridiculous moments (I know, that must be incredibly surprising for a book on talking sharks), also had some poignant moments, managed to hold my interest to the end. I looked ridiculous checking this book out and my social coolness probably went in the negatives as I read this book, but the story I got was fun nonetheless and made up for the public embarrassment.
November 5, 2019
awesome
January 31, 2016
Gray & friends are back to defend themselves from the evil Finnivus & his squad of killer sharks. Lochlan, king of Auzy Auzy Shiver, has joined with Gray & his band of misfit & homeless sharks to defeat Finnivus. Too bad they don't have nearly enough sharks to win. Gray & Lochlan need to convince more shiver leaders to join them or risk death. In the end, an evil more malevolent than Finnivus emerges & changes everything for the entire Big Blue. Excellent adventure.
July 12, 2012
A truly aweful book. Hated every minute of the weak storyline and dumb characters.
June 21, 2014
I thought it was interesting but not his best book.
July 6, 2014
Enjoyable readaloud.
March 28, 2016
It was a Great book! but it got a little bit more boring towards the end and it took a little while for the climax to come in.
July 29, 2016
Had a lot of ambushes and unexpected events.
October 12, 2017
Grey and Barkley have to defeat the evil shark finnivus from destroying the big blue. This is another great book made by him. It is a good and interesting story and I recommend it.
April 26, 2017
This third book is not as good as the first two, a little more predictable, but that is expected. However, the story did continue to entertain with not only action, but also thought, which is something that many of these type of books tend to not to think important. It also brought a conclusion to the trilogy. The book was an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.